Genomia

A little world of evolving genomes.

Every shape is a cell with its own genome: 13 genes that set how far it senses, how much crowding it tolerates, when it breeds, how it moves, what it eats, whether it travels with its neighbours, and how big it is. Survivors breed, offspring inherit their parents’ genes with small mutations, and so the rules of life themselves evolve. Close relatives form a species; when part of a species drifts far enough, it founds a new one.

The default scenario

A fresh visit opens on Trophic web. Green cells are plants that graze the flora field; cells shading through blue to red are animals that hunt them. Brighter cells have more energy stored.

Reading the cells

• Shape and colour belong to the species. Both come from a hash of the genome the species was founded with, so members of a species look alike and a cell’s look never changes during its life. New species bring new looks.
• Triangles are species with strong pack instinct, pointing the way they’re heading. Other species are squares, pentagons, hexagons or circles.
• Size is the body-size gene. Slight shade differences within a species show how far each cell has drifted from its founder.
• The color menu (under Rendering) changes what colour shows: species, genome, family tree, or plant-to-animal diet. Trophic web starts on diet; most scenarios start on species.

Things to try

• Paint cells. Click the habitat to place a cell, or drag to paint. Shift-click drops a blob; alt-drag erases.
• Paint cells. Tap the habitat to place a cell, or drag to paint.
• New cells get the Brush genome in the controls. Change a gene and the next cells you paint start a new lineage. Hover any cell to read its genome; copy hovered loads it into the brush.
• The Leaderboard ranks the ten species that had the most members alive at once, each with its shape, colour and a name like “cerulean juko”: its colour plus an invented creature.
• Presets hold 12 scenarios: flocks, hunting packs, species blooms, evolutionary collapse and more.
• Fast-forward with the speed buttons. Evolution takes thousands of ticks.
• Hover any control for a plain-language explanation. Each section’s badge says whether it changes every cell live, only new cells, takes effect on reset, or only the view.
• copy link shares the current setup, which replays the same run.

Space play/pause · . step · [ ] speed · R reset · H hide controls · ? this guide